Chapter Six
Rome
A switch flipped in the days after our boat trip.
Before, we were moving with barely put together restraint.
We enjoyed each other at night and acted like strangers during the day.
But now? She’s still holding on to the foolish notion that what we’re doing will come to an end after the week is up tomorrow, but in the meantime, she’s finally allowing herself to be with me completely, in and out of the bedroom.
Every free moment she has is spent with me.
She doesn’t hesitate to be in my presence around our friends and even though she doesn’t allow herself to be affectionate with me, the way we’ve been outwardly eye fucking each other is bound to get us caught.
I meant what I told her the other day, I’m not afraid of getting caught. I’m drawn to her in a way that I can’t explain but I know I need more. Whatever more entails, I want it.
The craving I have for her has me texting her to join me in the gym, even though I just left her not one hour ago.
Me: Get outta bed and come work out with me
I wipe the sweat already pooled on my forehead with my towel while I wait for her response. The hotel gym is completely empty right now, and normally I would revel in this time to put my headphones in and lose myself in my workout, but J has my mind too gone to be able to do that.
J: Oh so you think you can just make demands of me now?
Me: You right that was wild of me. You should come to the gym and set me straight
J: Lol if I were a fool that might have worked
Me: You’re a lot of things J but a fool isn’t one of em
Me: Come see me
J: Still waiting on my please
Me: I’m not above begging when it comes to you so PLEASE bring your fine ass to the gym I need a workout partner
J: What makes you think I even have workout clothes with me?
Me: Play with ya mama not me
J: How I’m playing?
Me: Bc you know if you didn’t have any I’d have some to you within the next thirty minutes so again I say stop playing
J: I see so this was just a chance to flaunt your wealth
Me: No it’s me telling you plainly I’ll get you whatever you want and need whenever you want and need it
A few minutes go by without a response, so I send a follow-up.
Me: Don’t take too long processing what I said, J. It’s not complicated. I’ll see you soon.
J: I didn’t agree
Me: Didn’t you?
With a smile tugging at my lips, I put my phone down and get back to the goblet squats I was doing.
I don’t think I can make demands of Janelle, but I know that I’m not alone in this craving.
She can chalk it up to wanting to make the most of our limited time together whereas I err more on the side of not being able to get enough of her, but the result is the same: when one of us calls, the other answers.
After my last set, I sit down on the weight bench beside me for a quick rest. The door to the gym opens and I know without looking that it’s her. The air in the room shifts, making room for the sheer magnitude of emotions that flow when the two of us are together.
I turn around to take her in and find her watching me with a loosely veiled desire.
She looked like a walking fantasy with her ample ass barely covered in some short black biker shorts, paired with a yellow sports bra and black training gloves.
The woman had her own training gloves with her but was playing on my phone about not having any workout clothes.
She walks toward me with the confidence of a queen, knowing she has me wrapped around her finger and salivating at the sight of her.
“Couldn’t get through a couple hours without me?
” she teases, stepping between my legs and bracing her hands on my shoulders.
I reach up to grab her chin and pull her face down to mine, losing myself in the pillowy clouds of her lips.
She pulls away from me looking breathless and a little dazed but gathers herself to throw another taunt at me.
“I thought I came here to work out, but I didn’t need to throw on these clothes or drag myself out of bed for this kind of workout. ”
I grip her hips and stand to my full height. With a slap on her ass, I move past her. “Bring your ass on.”
She chuckles but follows me without question.
I let her warm up while I do some leg extensions. I’m obvious in my ogling of her but I don’t care. Janelle is a work of art, and she deserves to be appreciated, studied for hours on end. She has the face of an angel and the body of a vixen. I appreciate every curve, dip, and dimple on her.
The way her ass claps on its own with every squat has me about to brick up right here in this gym. She moves through each rep with a grace that showcases the true strength her body possesses.
After her warmups, we talk as we run through different exercises.
I like to have fun at the gym. I never take myself too seriously so I tease her during our entire workout, and she gives it right back to me.
I make a show out of spotting her during certain exercises so that I can have excuses to touch her.
She gives me shit for the Bulgarian split squats I put her through, telling me if I wanted to kill her there are more humane ways to do it.
We’ve now been working out for a solid two hours and I’m ready to go back to one of our rooms to work something else out.
I’m sitting on the mat against one of the plyo boxes with one of the free weights straddling my hips, about to do a few sets of hip thrusts before calling it a day when Janelle calls for my attention.
“You tired, old man?”
“Why you say that?”
“Them weights looking a little light. I’m just surprised is all.”
Oh, she has jokes. I have two hundred pounds of weights on this bar and she’s looking like I’m lifting a sandwich. “Word? Okay. How much you think I should add?”
She shrugs noncommittally. “You could do three. Three fifty.”
“Bet.” This was supposed to be my cooldown, but now I’ve got other ideas.
Her eyes balk at my concession. “I was just fucking with you, Rome. Do your damn workout.”
“I am. Come here.”
“Nah.”
“J. Come here.”
I hear her mumble shit under her breath before she makes her way over to me with a sheen of sweat covering her body.
“Put your legs here.” I pat the spots on both sides of me and she tilts her head in confusion.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because I want you to get on top. That’s gonna get me to that three you wanted so bad.”
She laughs humorlessly. “Hell no.”
“Something wrong?”
She looks at me as though she may have to get me checked out by a professional before narrowing her eyes. “It’s cute that you think me getting on top would get you to three. Fucking with me is gonna put you over four hundred pounds. You sure you wanna do this?”
My face remains flat because does she think I’m some kind of punk? “Do I look unsure?”
“No. You look very confident.”
“Okay then.”
She closes her eyes and lets out a resigned sigh. “You better not drop me, Rome Anthony Martin.”
“You don’t ever have to worry about me letting you fall, Janelle Lashaun Cross. Now sit.”
She steps over the bar and carefully lowers herself onto the center as she pierces my soul with her eyes.
Gripping the bar tightly I settle into position and begin my reps.
The sounds of my harsh grunts fill the room as I move through the first ten reps.
Janelle’s hands are braced against my chest but she’s silent.
I expect her to be nervous, worried about me dropping her but instead she’s looking at me with complete trust. Her bottom lip is trapped between her teeth and her hooded lids tell me where her thoughts have gone.
I take a brief rest after the first ten, taking a minute to lean in and kiss her. “Told you this was light work, J.”
“You know, this is a lesson I’m happy to learn. You got another set in you?”
I laugh and thrust my hips up to begin the next set, cutting off any retorts from her.
When I finish the second set, she scoots backward a little so that her ass hangs off the bar a little and she grips her arms onto my shoulders.
I can practically feel her pussy clenching for me, and I know I have about five minutes to be inside of her before we both lose our minds.
“Please tell me that was the last set,” she murmurs.
“You tapping out on me?”
“I’m tapping in. I think we both could use a shower, don’t you?” Say no more.
Once Janelle and I have spent a thorough amount of time in the shower, I reluctantly let her go to start her day.
Amerie had been blowing up her phone while we were in the gym, so she needed to go find her.
The ladies have a cooking class tonight as well, so I’m not expecting to see her again until after that.
Christian and Micah hit me up to grab lunch at one of the hotel bars, so I head down and find them both there already.
“What’s good, y’all?” I touch fists with them both before grabbing a seat at the barstool two seats down from Micah. The place is pretty much empty, so we have the space to spread out and give ourselves the leg room needed without interfering with other guests.
“Yo. I feel like I haven’t seen y’all this whole trip,” Christian says.
He isn’t wrong. Christian, Micah, and Arnold are my boys, but we don’t feel the need to be up each other’s asses all the time.
There are group activities planned for every single day once the wedding guests arrive, so we’re using this time to enjoy some peace and quiet with paradise as our backdrop while Amerie is using this time to force her sister and friends into doing her bidding under the guise of bonding.
“You’ve been diving into any and every pussy as always and Rome’s been doing whatever he’s been doing.” Micah gives me a pointed look with that statement.
“We’ve been here, what? Six days? And I’ve only slept with three women, so I don’t think that counts as any and every,” Christian quips, clearly proud of himself.